


You'll Get There Eventually

by highseize



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-06
Updated: 2013-08-06
Packaged: 2017-12-22 14:32:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/914313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/highseize/pseuds/highseize
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times that someone tried to show Chuck that they cared but he didn't understand, and the one time he got everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You'll Get There Eventually

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings for Pacific Rim spoilers (maybe?), mentioned canonical character death, unintentional self harm, Chuck being a brat.
> 
> Written for a prompt at the kink meme: 
> 
> [“prompt: 5 people who loves Chuck in their own different way and how they act on it, and the one person who really matters shows Chuck without hiding it how much he's loved. doesn't have to be a fix-all-chuck-lives fic.](http://pacificrimkink.livejournal.com/350.html?thread=1088094#t1088094)  
> points if:
> 
> \- Chuck gets it, in the end. he doesnt show that he gets it, but he feels it nonetheless.  
> -Stacker or Raleigh is included somehow, and neither romantically.  
> -Each person shows the love in a way that befits their characters.“  
>    
> I don't think I did the prompt as much justice as I'd hoped to, but hopefully it's not a complete wreck x.x;;

**1 - Herc**

  
  
Something clattered to the floor. Chuck looked up from the book he was reading at the sound and saw his father grimacing as he picked up the picture frame, cracked glass over top of a photo of Chuck's mother.  
  
He stared at Herc as the man picked up a chunk of broken glass. “Well that figures,” Chuck muttered as he turned back to his book.  
  
A beat of silence, then, “Excuse me?”  
  
Chuck turned red and shook his head, not looking up. He heard his dad place the frame back on the side table, but no footsteps. He got brave and looked up to see Herc staring at the floor and clenching a fist with one hand, the other resting on the wall. After a moment, a couple of drops of blood fell from between the fingers of his clenched hand. He walked briskly to the wastebasket in the corner and threw a shard of glass into it before he strode over to kneel in front of Chuck.  
  
“What have I done?”  
  
The boy searched his face for a moment before he coldly uttered, “What haven't you?”  
  
Herc's eyes looked at him in pain as he tried to explain calmly to his son, “I didn't ever want her gone, but, Christ. Chuck, I would never let you go. Not for a damn thing.”  
  
Chuck casually returned to reading as he asked, tight lipped, “Why, so you always have proof that I'm a pathetic disappointment?”  
  
There was nothing for Herc to do but leave the room before he lost his composure.  
  
A few days later the photo was back on the table in a new frame, next to a photo of Chuck in a frame that matched.  
  
Chuck knocked over his photo when Herc wasn't in the room.  
  


**2 - Tendo**

  
  
When Chuck was older and his training running near its end, they were temporarily moved to Stacker Pentecost's location so that the Marshal could personally assess Chuck's combat skills and neural compatibility with Herc. He'd already met Pentecost and Tendo Choi when they were in Sydney recently, but this would be the first time he was around them for any length of time.  
  
Herc had gone to meet with the Marshal and instructed Chuck to start moving boxes of his belongings into his quarters. Chuck was carrying two heavy boxes piled on top of each other when he encountered  
Tendo in the corridor.  
  
Tendo brightly exclaimed, “Chuck!”   
  
To which the boy rolled his eyes and pressed on.  
  
“Um,” Tendo continued, noticing the sag in Chuck's overburdened shoulders. “Can I help at all?”  
  
“No,” Chuck snapped. He stopped to readjust the boxes, at which point Tendo took the opportunity to lift one into his own arms. “Hey! I don't need-”  
  
“Well, let me anyways,” Tendo interrupted, “Not everything is about what you need.”  
  
Chuck huffed but led onwards, at that point just wanting to get rid of Tendo. He continued to antagonize over the situation, “I should be self sufficient, not some weakling who always needs a hand from someone. I'm going to be a pilot.”  
  
Tendo pursed his lips. “You'll get there eventually, but not if you never even consider someone's help. Piloting is about teamwork, too.”  
  
They rounded the corner into Chuck's room, where he deposited the box he carried quite forcefully on the bed and yanked the other out of Tendo's hands while he responded, “Thank you for the condescension.” He then gestured to the door with a nod.  
  
Tendo's eyebrows raised disbelievingly, but he left without another word.  
  


**3 - Mako**

  
  
Stacker still hadn't made a final call on Chuck's piloting fitness after two weeks. Most nights Herc was in his office with him for hours arguing about it loudly enough to be heard in through the walls. Chuck spent a lot of time avoiding Tendo and his father by exploring and sparring with Mako.  
  
It was one such day, and he was doing poorly. After she hip threw him for the fourth or fifth time, she helped him up from where he lay panting on the ground as she spoke, “My center of gravity is much lower than yours, if you widen your stance and sink down a bit it'll be harder for me to throw you.”  
  
He ignored her and stepped back a few feet.  
  
“Here, I'll help,” She approached him but he held out a hand to stop her.  
  
“Look,” He said with deadly force, making her halt in her tracks, “You can stop trying to prove you're better than me. Believe me, if there's anything I've learned on this trip, it's how true that is.”  
  
He breathed heavily and watched her stand still with her head hung low. After a few seconds she lifted her chin up, grabbed her staff from the floor and hurriedly walked towards the door out of the Kwoon. She tried to deposit her staff against the wall with the others on the way out but threw it with such force that it knocked a couple of others over. She glanced over her shoulder at them on the way out, but was too flustered to stop and fix them.  
  
“How fucking immature,” Chuck grumbled as he picked them up himself.  
  
She didn't mention the incident to Stacker.  
  


**4 - Stacker**

  
  
Chuck shuffled into his quarters, still in his training gear. During a workout he had been notified of an urgent video call from Marshal Pentecost. Curiousity invaded Chuck's mind as he opened the video link to Stacker. “Sir?”  
  
Pentecost was tight lipped but his tone was pleasant enough, “Mister Hansen. How are you feeling?”  
  
He was talking about an injury from the Kaiju attack three weeks before. Chuck answered guardedly, “Shoulder's much improved, thank you. That what you called about?”  
  
“No, it's not,” Stacker dropped the pretenses, “I'm worried about you being in combat for much longer. You go at this too hard, too long, and you don't take breaks. Your father too, to be honest, but he's been at it longer.”  
  
Chuck blinked, “What are you... trying to say?”  
  
“I suggest some time off, Mister Hansen.”  
  
Chuck's rage and pride flared up at once, “ _Excuse me?_  I'm pushing a record kill count, sir. I have no idea why you'd pull me when I'm right on the heels of the longest kill streak to date. I'm the most effective pilot in the world.”  
  
“You absolutely are,  _now,_ ”   
  
Chuck felt something vile bubble up in his gut but he fought it.  
  
“And I don't think I've ever known a more impressive fighter. But you've already stated the very best reason for this suggestion,” Stacker's voice remained inhumanly level, “You're too worked up right now and you're almost guaranteed to slip up because of it.”  
  
“With all due respect,  _sir,_ ” Chuck's own voice raised, spiraling out of his grasp, “What authority are you on my state of mind? What the hell makes you think I'm not in control of myself?”   
  
Stacker stared at him. He had shouted the last statement. A chill somehow emanated from the screen on Chuck's end.  
  
Chuck had regretted it the moment it came out. He looked down and away, stammering, “I-I'm sorry sir-”  
  
“Mister Hansen, as much as it may surprise and upset you, I am  _the_  authority on every single thing there is to know about you. You would do  _very_  well to remember that. Otherwise, the next leave of absence I contact you about will not be voluntary,” He let out the last sentence with increasing force. “Do I make. Myself. Clear?”  
  
Chuck only nodded and the connection was closed on Stacker's end. He headed back to the gym; If Stacker needed more convincing, Chuck would find a way.  
  


**5 – Raleigh**

  
  
“Can I help with those?”  
  
Chuck's footsteps halted as he got a flashback of Tendo, but when he glanced over his shoulder he saw Raleigh's grinning face instead. He still rolled his eyes and shook his head, but Raleigh followed. At a respectable distance, to be fair, and he didn't grab anything from Chuck's hands. Only when a cup fell off of the tray in his hands piled up with his and Herc's dishes did he even reach out.  
  
Raleigh caught the cup easily, and held it up to illustrate his point, “Are you sure about that?”  
  
Chuck refused to say yes to Raleigh Becket, so he stood there glaring until a very amused Raleigh grabbed another cup and some silverware. Chuck idled for a minute before nodding slightly in mock thanks. Raleigh laughed and Chuck scowled, quickly skulking on towards the kitchen sink. Raleigh followed without trouble or complaint though, deepening Chuck's sour mood.   
  
At the sink, Chuck quickly and dutifully scrubbed each dish, hoping that Raleigh would dump the ones in his hands and move on. To Chuck's absolute horror, he stood next to him and dried each dish after Chuck washed them. Chuck stopped and glowered at the man beside him.  
  
“What? You can't possibly want to do this all on your own?” Raleigh smiled at him warmly.  
  
Chuck spat the words out, “Why are you here? To prove what a class act you are compared to me?”  
  
Raleigh still smiled, “You didn't have the pleasure of siblings, I did. You get used to helping someone,” Raleigh gently lifted a cup from Chuck's grip and held it his own hands to dry it, whispering with a smirk, “Even the most painfully annoying people.”  
  
Chuck stormed off, gritting out, “Well I'm glad you're so well versed in helpfulness, Raleigh.”  
  


**+1 – Max**

  
  
The alarm sounding woke Chuck too few hours after he had gotten to bed. He couldn't sleep well anyway, rubbed raw by Raleigh's gloating behavior. Through bleary eyes he threw on his clothes, sitting down after to put his boots on.   
  
He put his foot in the right boot and Max started barking.  
  
Chuck scoffed at him, “Oh, what?”  
  
He struggled to get his foot all the way in, Max barking even more hysterically.  
  
“Seriously, Max, what are you on about? I know it's loud but you've heard the alarm plenty of times-”  
  
Max lunged forward and pulled Chuck's boot off of his foot with his teeth.  
  
“Max! Fuck,” Chuck cried, yanking the boot back, only to realize it was for his left foot, not his right. He covered his face with his hands, muffling his words, “I'm sorry, Max.”  
  
Chuck stumbled into where they were all on the LOCCENT command deck noticeably after everyone else, having been hindered by his boot predicament. With everyone's attention on him, Chuck found himself second-guessing his readiness. He wasn't familiar with the look of concern leveled at him that was on every face in the room. He didn't know if that was because they had never looked at him that way, or because he had been refusing to pay attention. He couldn't deny it in that moment as he scanned every set of eyes on him.  
  
Raleigh glanced swiftly to the ground when Chuck tried to make eye contact. Stacker's jaw seemed wired shut and he stared back with a face both stern and pitying. Mako wrung her hands together in front of her stomach. Tendo exchanged a melancholy expression with Herc.  
  
They might as well have all been handing him a left shoe.


End file.
